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{
"id": 1563522,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1563522/?format=api",
"text_counter": 257,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Mungatana, MGH",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "alone. A sports academy is a place where all the talents in various sporting activities will be congregating and training. This law will require that counties establish at least one sports academy. The law is amending the Sports Act with the requirement that counties set up a county academy management committee for sports. For the first time, when this law takes effect, we will see even in a place like Tana River County, a centre where people with talent, people who can run, people who can swim, people who can play volleyball, people who can do archery and other talents gathered at the cost of the county so that the sports and the talents that are in that county are exploited. The talents that exist amongst our youth can be developed. I have just given an example of that young man who was running. He wanted a sponsor who would help him to go outside the country and make a living. I tried to help him. However, when help is not institutionalised, then it is a one-off and it is not sustainable. This Bill provides an opportunity where people or young men and women who have talent can be given opportunities to grow their talent and make a living out of their talents. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, when these sports academies are being set up across the counties, as is proposed in this Bill, it is not just the young people who are running, the young people who are talented in football, volleyball, netball, basketball and so on, who will benefit. Sports is a very big economy. The provisions of this Act, it says there will be, as an objective of the academy in the county, the need to collaborate with the academy in talent development within that county. I have come to discover that those talented people do not just need the coach who takes them for an early morning run and tells them you have to go to the boardroom to read the tactics of what happens in the field. They do not just need the coach who tell them that to be in the field and shoot these amount of baskets, you have to keep on practicing until there is a muscle retention of memory through practice. The economy of sports is very wide. There are psychologists in sports who study the psychology of sports and they are there to talk to athletes. It will provide employment opportunities to those people who are specializing in those areas. It would open our economy to those capacities so that they can be built within this Republic of Kenya and maybe exported to other places. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, some of these sporting talents, the talented young men and women, get injured not just in the field physically, but some are injured emotionally. Others suffer the normal problems we all suffer. Societal problems affect them and affect peak performance. A sports psychologist sits with you and helps you to recover. You may have gone through grief, you may have lost a very important game that has made you feel so low, so you are nursing depression. The sports psychologist is telling you that you can recover and regain your form. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
},
{
"id": 1563523,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1563523/?format=api",
"text_counter": 258,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Mungatana, MGH",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "They have all this technology that they use on these sports people, and they help them to perform to their peak. Sports psychologists will have opportunities in 47 counties. Even those who are not necessarily having any problems, there are those who, for one reason or another, their performance has dipped and this we experience everywhere. Even in our academics, when we were growing up, sometimes things happen. For whatever reason, you are not able to hit your number one or number two or number three as is you usual do. You sit with someone who talks to you, who understands you. These academies in 47 counties will create a whole new capacity in the sports economy in this Republic of Kenya. There are also physiotherapists. I am speaking as the Chair of the Senate Sports Committee. We have many members here who participated in the games and some suffers injuries. In fact, I know of a friend, a member of the National Assembly, who has since December last year has undergone at least four surgeries on his knee for purposes of recovering from the injury he suffered in football. Forty-seven counties will open up for physiotherapists, sports therapists and people who know about how to deal with sports injuries. The sports economy in this country will start to develop at a tremendous rate. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, this will give us a huge edge because there is no such law within our neighbouring countries. For teams that believe in God or they have put God in their whatever, there will be job creation for chaplains, for those of us who are Christians. Teams especially in West African countries hold to the African traditional religions. They bring their mascots and pray. That is job creation within the sports academy. We shall develop capacity and grow the whole sports economy within the Republic of Kenya. We shall even be able to export sporting management capacity. We have said within this county sports academy, there will be management created . Once you have managed a sports academy in Kenya, especially in some of these big counties, you can manage even a sports academy in any other country across Africa. I believe that this law will create great opportunities that will be used to grow the entire sports economy. This Bill is also seeking to involve the local community in county academies activities. It means in various villages in a county such as Tana River, you will be having local communities being called to support that academy. How do they support the activities of that academy? If that academy is set up in one of the constituencies, the people who are camping there will need food, clothing, water and even medical supplies. These are business opportunities for the local communities surrounding those sports academies. Mr. Speaker, can you imagine all the suppliers across the 47 counties will be having a place where they are taking foods? Employees associated with sports, for example, nutritionists also will be in those academies. I believe that this is a good Bill that the Senate has brought. I congratulate the committee and Senators that have come together. I think it is Sen. Chimera and Sen. Tom The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
},
{
"id": 1563524,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1563524/?format=api",
"text_counter": 259,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Mungatana, MGH",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Ojienda who have come together to put up this Bill and help develop the entire sports economy across the 47 counties. This is one of those Bills that will be a game changer once it becomes law. As I sit, I appeal to Members of the Senate who will be speaking to this Bill to support and pass it without much ado."
},
{
"id": 1563525,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1563525/?format=api",
"text_counter": 260,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Nyamu",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir. This Bill proposes to create sports academies in all our 47 counties. For a long time in this country, we have decried the quality of players and the quality of performance by our national teams. So, this is an opportunity for Kenya to scout sports talent from quite an early age from the grassroots level where sports is. Talent is mainly found in the slums and in our villages. Sports academies have been a preserve of the rich, owing to the fact that they are run as money-making entities. Therefore, someone who comes from the slums or the village stands no chance to join a sporting academy. In Nairobi, we have a model of what this Bill proposes, what it can do and the impact it can have in society. The Mathare Youth Sports Association, popularly known as MYSA, formed by a Canadian, Bob Munro, who passed away recently, has had far- reaching impact in Nairobi. Children from the slums join this sports association as early as six years. It majorly targets or majors on football. The impact of MYSA in the young people of Nairobi is something that we would want to see replicated in the villages once this law comes into force. It is worth noting that this sports association has produced players that made our national team. We have people like Dennis Oliech, Titus Mulama, Jamal, Malo and many others. We need to support this amendment as a House because it will have an overall impact on the quality of players even at the national level. This is because we will create a larger pool right from the grassroots level. I, therefore, support. Thank you."
},
{
"id": 1563526,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1563526/?format=api",
"text_counter": 261,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Osotsi",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 13588,
"legal_name": "Osotsi Godfrey Otieno",
"slug": "osotsi-godfrey-otieno"
},
"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir. This is a very progressive Bill. It is a Bill on Sports Act and it seeks to amend the Sports Act for us to have county sports academies. A few days back we passed the Bill by Senator of Nairobi City County, Sen. Sifuna, to provide for county sports association in the Sports Act. Right now we are debating the Bill by Sen. Tom Ojienda and Sen. Chimera to amend the Sports Act so that we can have county sports academies. This is a clear indication that there is need to do an overhaul of the current Sports Act. The current Sports Act was actually enacted in February, 2013 during the last days of Hon. Mwai Kibaki. That Act was seeking to actualize the proposals that are contained in Vision 2030. Vision 2030 provided for the sports academies as part of the social pillar of the Vision 2030. That did not take into account the provisions of the 2010 Constitution that provides that sports is one of the shared functions of the county government and the national Government."
},
{
"id": 1563527,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1563527/?format=api",
"text_counter": 262,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Osotsi",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 13588,
"legal_name": "Osotsi Godfrey Otieno",
"slug": "osotsi-godfrey-otieno"
},
"content": "While serving as a nominated Member of the National Assembly, I sponsored a Motion which was overwhelmingly passed to create sports academies in all the 290 The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
},
{
"id": 1563528,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1563528/?format=api",
"text_counter": 263,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Osotsi",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 13588,
"legal_name": "Osotsi Godfrey Otieno",
"slug": "osotsi-godfrey-otieno"
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"content": "constituencies in Kenya. I am happy that my Motion was passed and the Ministry of Sports made some steps to try and implement the vision that I had in it. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, it is taking a long time to fully realize that vision. I know we have the Kenya Sports Academy, which is in Kasarani, but the plan was to have regional sports academies and thereafter, have county sports academies and constituency sports academy. I know some budget has been appropriated in this programme, but very little is happening on the ground. In my county, we had a fanfare and launched the Joe Kadenge Sports Academy. However, if you go there right now, very little is happening there. We must remove the notion that a sports academy must be an issue of brick and mortar, putting up structures and all that. We need to focus more on the soft side of the sports academy. We have schools which already have facilities for sports. These can naturally become sports academies. In our Western region, we have Kakamega High School, Chavakali High School, Musingu High School and Kamusinga High School. These schools are known for excelling in sports and can naturally be identified as centres of sports excellence. The Government can then provide coaches, trainers, sports medics and psychologists. They can also provide other facilities like training kits and all manner of merchandise that is used in sports. The fixation with the idea that a sports academy has to be brick and mortar, where buildings have to be set up and all that is what is delaying us from actualizing the good idea of having a sports academy. We need to use the facilities which exist at the moment. We should only provide the software required in these facilities then we will make progress. If you go to countries that have excelled in sports academies such as the West African countries like Ghana, Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Cameroon, you will realise that they do not necessarily have places that they call sports academy. They use the existing facilities. Sports academies should not just be about sports alone. We need to have some formal learning happening in those academies. Mr. Temporary Speaker, that naturally means that we adapt existing schools into sports academies by providing the necessary facilities and resources. This approach would be the most convenient and speedy way to implement sports academies. As we discuss amending the Sports Act to incorporate sports academies, we must ask ourselves: how will these academies be funded? When I previously contributed to the Bill by Sen. Sifuna, I said that it was so unfortunate that the Uhuru Government decided to delete the entire Section 12 of the original Sports Act, which provided for the National Sports Fund. It was replaced with the Public Finance Management Regulation 2018, through Legal Notice No.194. This happened because the then Government’s realized that the Sports Fund had attracted a lot of money, from taxes and levies on betting, lotteries, and other sources. Consequently, the Government decided to come up with an amendment to delete the entire Section 12 that called for the creation of the National Sports Fund. Instead, they introduced a new entity; the Sports, Arts and Social Development Fund, through regulations under the Public Finance Management framework, 2018. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
},
{
"id": 1563529,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1563529/?format=api",
"text_counter": 264,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Osotsi",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 13588,
"legal_name": "Osotsi Godfrey Otieno",
"slug": "osotsi-godfrey-otieno"
},
"content": "If we examine the proposal to share the proceeds of that fund, it is surprising to see that 60 per cent is now directed towards UHC. What does UHC have to do with sports? Only five per cent of the funds are allocated to sports development and promotion, while 20 per cent goes toward arts development and five per cent is set aside for strategic interventions by the Cabinet Secretary. This is why some of us believe that President Kibaki had a strong vision for this country. However, those who took over from him were visionless. How do you divert funds originally intended for sports to sports unrelated sectors? One of the urgent steps we need to take, even as we work to amend the Sports Act, is for the Committee on Delegated Legislation to review and annul the Public Finance Management Regulation 2018, as it fails to serve its intended purpose. This regulation is against the youth of this country and an obstacle to the development of sports. We cannot be appropriating 60 per cent of this money for UHC, while at the same time going for peoples’ payslips to tax them for Social Health Authority (SHA) and Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF). Now that SHA taxation is in effect, this is the right time to annul the existing allocation and redirect the 60 per cent back to sports where it rightfully belongs. Mr. Temporary Speaker, another issue that is important apart from funding is the development of sports federations. We cannot have a vibrant sports academy in this country if we do not develop the federations. That is why Sen. Edwin Sifuna’s Bill is timely. We need to develop federations to ensure they are self-sustainable. These federations should be capable of sponsoring athletes for international and regional competitions. The funds meant for sports development are available, but being channelled to other things that are not sports related. Another concern is the need to support our local clubs. Some of them are struggling financially. Clubs like Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards, both rich in heritage, are facing significant financial challenges, yet the funds exist. It is imperative that clubs qualifying for leagues each year, from Division One up to the Super League, receive substantial financial support from the Sports Fund to sustain their operations. Every weekend, many of us receive requests from clubs in our counties seeking sponsorship. They inform us that are stranded, unable to afford travel expenses for matches in Mombasa, for example. We cannot have a situation where we have done so well in established sports academies, but there are no clubs to absorb the youth graduating from these academies. We should have clubs that are ready to absorb them. We also need strong federations to support the growth of sports in this country. I, therefore, want to remove the notion that sports academy is about brick and mortar. I also want to remove the notion that the sports academy should be separate from the schools. If you go to countries like Spain and Britain, you find that the sports academies are also schools. I know some of us have taken our children to go and learn in those academies. They have an academic programme and a sports programme as well. What I am emphasizing is that our decision-makers must think well. They need to assess existing schools in each county, identifying those that can serve as centres of sports excellence and equipping them with the necessary facilities to transform them into great sports institutions. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
},
{
"id": 1563530,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1563530/?format=api",
"text_counter": 265,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Osotsi",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 13588,
"legal_name": "Osotsi Godfrey Otieno",
"slug": "osotsi-godfrey-otieno"
},
"content": "I am not sure whether Members have had the opportunity to watch the ongoing Under-20 tournament in Egypt. The quality of play has been remarkable. Today, Kenya is facing Nigeria in a crucial match. I urge you to watch that game. You will be surprised by the immense quality of talent across Africa. This is largely due to the fact that many of these countries have established and developed sports academies. Kenya, too, has the potential to excel. If we manage our sports sector effectively and establish a properly organized, structured and well-funded sports academy system, we will be able to tap the talent from the villages. When visiting villages to watch local soccer matches, one often witnesses remarkable skill, yet these players remain undiscovered. This is largely due to the absence of a structured scouting system that can identify and nurture talent, allowing players to advance to major clubs or represent the country at higher levels. Moreover, when discussing sports academies, we must not be fixated solely on soccer. Let us explore other sports. Rugby, for example, is a natural sport in the region where I come from, given the muscle we possess. Therefore, we need to identify different areas and determine which sports are best suited for them. For example, I know that high jump is particularly strong in certain regions. The Maasai can do better in that, making it an ideal region for establishing a sports academy dedicated to such events. Similarly, other areas should be identified based on their natural strengths. For instance, Rift Valley is widely known for its dominance in athletics. We need to go to that region and establish athletic sports academies. This is to ensure we have a diversity of sports and not just football. If we do so, this country can earn a lot of money in foreign exchange through sports. There are countries which have developed because of sports. If you want to know the importance of sports, look at the growth of Eldoret town. Its growth is because of the influx of money from sports such as athletics. You can imagine if that was happening all over the country, for example, in Vihiga where people are very good in soccer. We would have serious development because of sports."
},
{
"id": 1563531,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1563531/?format=api",
"text_counter": 266,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Osotsi",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 13588,
"legal_name": "Osotsi Godfrey Otieno",
"slug": "osotsi-godfrey-otieno"
},
"content": "Let us look at sports as a matter of economic growth and dealing with the youth problem in this country such as unemployment, crime and such. If we organise ourselves well, we will become a sports giant not just in Africa, but in the world."
}
]
}